


Going Home

by WordsAndWishes



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: #AU, #christmas, #fluff, #modern au, F/M, it's a cutesy holiday fic except im not posting it until january whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 22:57:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17569508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordsAndWishes/pseuds/WordsAndWishes
Summary: When Feyre's flight home is cancelled, she finds herself stranded in Chicago on Christmas Eve. Luckily, she runs into a familiar face at the airport.





	Going Home

Everything was falling apart. 

I could feel the weight pressing on my chest as my eyes started burning with tears I refused to let fall.

_This is fine this is fine. Breathe._

I tried to take calming breaths as I hurried through the airport, not sure where I was going.

The breakup and subsequent loss of my job had been bad to begin with. 

Then, Nesta and Elain had decided not to come to California since Dad’s health issues prevented him from joining them. At least, that was what Elain had said. Nesta probably hadn’t wanted to come in the first place.

So I had decided to fly to them last minute. The overpriced plane ticket cost money I couldn’t spare, but it would be worth it if I could see my friends and family in New York for the first time in ages.

The flight had a two-hour layover in Illinois, which shouldn’t have been a problem. Until the Illinois-New York flight was cancelled, leaving me hopelessly stranded in the Chicago airport. Even worse, on Christmas Eve.

After the initial panic, I had pulled myself together and rescheduled my flight for 3:30 tomorrow. But after the plane ticket, I definitely didn’t have enough money for a hotel stay unless I wanted to fall more behind on my student loan payments. Not an option.

I didn’t know anyone in the city, which left me with...what? Sleeping in the airport all night? 

Just then, my phone buzzed.  
_  
**Nesta:** Elain just told me you lost your job at Springfield._

Damn it. I had sworn her to secrecy after she had accidentally found out, but it was only a matter of time before my middle sister had let something slip. I had been hoping to keep it quiet until after Christmas. Nesta meant well, but she’d be badgering me about the details, about what I had done wrong, about why it had happened. It was easier to pretend I hadn’t been let go for unsavory reasons.

I was so tired, and the tears had finally spilled over. And somehow, I had ended up in the food court, standing there like an idiot. Exhausted, I sat down on the nearest bench, about to place my head in my hands when -

“Feyre?”

My head shot up at the familiar voice. In front of me stood a tall, dark-haired man I hadn’t seen in over a year.

“Rhysand?” My voice came out thick, my nose clogged up from the crying.  
Of course. Of course I would run into Rhysand Noctis here, having a breakdown halfway between a Jimmy-Johns and a Taco Bell. Despite just getting off a flight, he looked strikingly handsome in black jeans and a t-shirt. And as always, his hair didn’t have a strand out of place.

He laughed. “You don’t see me for a year and you call me Rhysand? I thought you would have known me better than that, darling.” 

The return of the old nickname was enough to bring the hint of a smile to my lips. We had known each other well in high school after he had ended up tutoring me when my English grades fell embarrassingly low. Though I hated him at first, we had gradually grown close. After high school, both of us attended colleges in California, making it easier to hang out occasionally – until these last few months, when we had lost touch.

I stood up, wiping my eyes in an attempt to look like I hadn’t spent the day travelling and on the verge of a breakdown. Rhys was frowning a bit, clearly wondering what the hell was wrong with me.

Concern lined Rhys’s face. “Travelling for the holidays?”

I nodded. “Yeah. My flight’s been cancelled, and the next one doesn’t leave until tomorrow afternoon.” I fished for something to say, some menial question or the small talk I had always been so awful at. “What about you - how have you been?”

He gave a half-shrug, pivoting the handle of his luggage as he talked. “It’s been a long year. But everything has improved now that I’ve stumbled across you again, Feyre darling.”

I rolled my eyes. “Flirt.”

Just then, my phone buzzed again, and I fished it out of my pocket. Elain this time.

 _ **Elain:** Dad’s really disappointed that you can’t make it tonight. ): Where r u staying?_

My middle sister’s well-meaning words somehow set something off in me. I had disappointed Dad once again, I didn’t have a place to stay….

I started to cry again – louder, this time, definitely enough to make people stare. I had never been one who was able to cry prettily. I felt myself sink back down onto the bench. 

Rhys immediately sat down next to me, our knees only a few inches apart.

“What’s wrong, Feyre?”

I didn’t respond, trying to focus on my breathing, but too lost to do so. 

“Is there something I can do, someone I can call to help?” My eyes weren’t focusing, my head was bowed. Concern coated his voice, but I shook my head, I couldn’t breathe –

“Feyre.” His voice was steady, unwavering. “Breathe.” Pure command, no room for argument. But my mind found anchor in his voice, and I shuddered, heaving great, even breaths from the depths of my lungs.

“Do you need to talk about it?” I had spent so long keeping it all inside, and the first rule of that was never to cry in public. 

Rule number two was to deny anything was wrong. 

I had already broken both of those, and just talking about what had happened…it sounded more appealing than I was willing to admit.

“It’s just….a lot of crap. I went through a breakup, lost my job, and now I don’t have enough money for a decent hotel stay because I spent all of it on this flight. My family and I…. we went through a rough patch. I didn’t speak to them for a while. And just when we were closer to making things right…” My hands balled up, fingernails snagging on the fabric of my black leggings.

Rhys was silent for a moment. I studied his face, noticing his eyes were filled with more emotion than I was used to from him. And below them telltale dark circles.

His hand hovered above my shoulder, as if wanting to comfort me but not wanting to invade my space. 

“Come stay with me tonight.”

I looked up at him in surprise, ready to reject the offer. 

“I’m staying at my cousin Morrigan’s. You remember her, right?”

“Yes.” She had always been friendly towards me, and I had ended up crashing at her house once when things got bad at mine. Though I suspected that at times, her home life was worse than mine. 

But I wasn’t going to interfere in a family affair. “That’s ridiculous, Rhys. Mor and I haven’t seen each other in years, and I’m not going to barge in on your holiday. It’s a kind offer, but I’ll find some other place to stay.”

Rhys furrowed his brow, persisting. “Mor adores you, Feyre. I promise you wouldn’t be interrupting. Or if you’re not comfortable with it, I could loan you some cash. To get a hotel for the night.”

Interesting. His offer was genuine – I could read it in his words and in his unusually open face. But I wasn’t putting myself in more debt, even with someone like Rhys. And a hotel would still mean an empty room, filled with only the sounds of a microwave dinner and a bad movie in the background.

I had spent too many Christmases like that.

Staying at Mor’s sounded nice. And it was only for one night. “Alright, I’ll stay at Mor’s. But only if she’s okay with it. No showing up with me with no warning.”

A grin spread across his face, violet eyes bright and true. “I’ll call her right now.”

He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his jeans, dialing her number. Mor answered almost immediately, and I listened as he explained my situation. Only the barest details, that my flight had been cancelled and I needed a place to crash. When Rhys told her that he had invited me to stay, I could hear her shriek of excitement from where I was standing.

It made me feel a little better about the whole thing, and I could feel a flutter of excitement in my belly at the prospect of seeing Mor again. 

The cousins chatted for a few more minutes, and I responded to Elain, letting her know I was staying with some friends. Nesta’s text I left alone, for now. It would be better to just discuss it face-to-face.

By the time we had left the airport and found a taxi, twenty minutes had passed. The weather was gradually worsening and the car wound up taking several detours to avoid closed roads and accidents. 

“So, what is Mor doing in Chicago?” I asked, watching the blur of buildings go by through the window. “I thought she was planning on college in New York?” Her father had been pushing for her to attend a prestigious private school.

“Her family was planning on her going there. Things got…complicated.” Rhysand’s tone was dark, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the rest of that particular story. “She’s in her last year at the University of Chicago now.” 

We sat in comfortable silence for a minute. 

“What’s the rest of the crew up to now?” I asked. “I’ve lost touch with everyone.”

The question seemed to raise his spirits. “Cassian is still in the army – he isn’t able to be home for Christmas this year. Az just got promoted at the tech security company he works for. He’s flying in from New York to be at Mor’s tomorrow, actually. Amren is still working as a lawyer. She’s actually in Chicago as well, though it’s hard to say if she’ll drop in. You know how she is.”

I nodded, a faint smile on my lips. They had all been Rhys’s friends more than mine, but there were days when I was still surprised by how much I could miss their quips and banter. 

“And you? What have you kept yourself so busy with?”

Rhys shrugged. “I’ve been working in the California office for Illyria Tech.” He said slowly, naming the multi-million dollar company his father held a high position in. “Dad’s been pushing for me to come back home and work in the headquarters. Convinced I can get a better job there. But even though California hasn’t been easy –“ He furrowed his eyebrows. “I can’t bring myself to go back permanently – not yet. But I’m staying at Mor’s for a few days and then going home for New Year’s.” He paused. “I’ve been talking almost this whole ride. Tell me one thing about your year.” 

I nodded. “I know what you mean – about going home. My Dad thinks that us not fighting anymore means that I’m ready to swallow my pride and come home, that California was too big of a venture into the unknown for me. It’s true I needed to get out of LA for a while…. but I have to go back.” Heaven only knew there were certain places I still wouldn’t go back to in LA. The restaurant Tamlin had always taken me to. The parking lot across from the Macy’s where he had hit me for the first time and then apologized a thousand times afterwards. And I hated the smell of roses.

“For what it’s worth…I’m sorry about your breakup.” His voice was soft, as if he had known what I was thinking about.

“Don’t be. I’m glad it’s over.”

Rhys didn’t say anything, and I looked over to see him staring out of the window of the taxi. His sharp profile against the snowy windowpane would have made a stunning painting. He opened his mouth, about to say something else, when the taxi lurched to a halt in front of a small apartment building.

Despite his protests, I insisted we split the cost of the transport. It was the least I could do.

The weather was beginning to get bad, wind whipping my hair out of its plait and snow stinging my skin as I hauled my suitcase up into the apartment building and into the elevator. 

Mor opened the door on Rhys’s first knock, squealing and throwing her arms around him. No sooner had she stepped away from her embrace with him then I found myself wrapped up in a hug tight enough to suck the air out of my lungs.

“Feyre! I’m so glad you and Rhys ran into each other!” She exclaimed. “Come in, come in.” She hustled me past her cousin, ignoring my protests as she pushed a mug of hot cocoa into my hands and urged me to sit down on the couch. “Rhys can put your bags in my guest room.” Mor said, shushing my protests. 

“I’m expecting a mug of cocoa as payment for my services!” He called from the other room, voice sounding lighter than before. 

Mor rolled her eyes, plopping down next to me. “If he’s cold, it’s his own damn fault for not bringing a decent coat.”

Though I had felt exhausted earlier, the three of us talked for hours, the chatter blocking out the wind's howl. Anytime my fumbling words would send the conversation to an awkward halt, Rhys or Mor would pick it back up as if nothing had happened. As the posters and souvenirs around the room proved, Mor had practically been around the world and had endless stories about her travels that kept the conversation flowing long past midnight. I even surprised myself whenever I would let out a croak of laughter at something they said or did. I couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed.

At some point Mor brought went into the kitchen to get more wine, and I found myself alone on the couch with Rhys.

“Thank you – for inviting me here.” I said softly, looking him in the eye.

“Of course. You didn’t think I would let you spend Christmas stranded in an airport, did you, Feyre darling?” 

I smiled at that, wondering for the first time if my heart wasn’t as irreparably shattered as I had thought. “Merry Christmas, Rhys.”

"Merry Christmas, indeed."

**Author's Note:**

> Not going to lie, I couldn't think of a decent name for this. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed it!


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